Crane School Blog: Focus on Learning

Featuring articles written by Crane Staffulty

For more information about Crane Country Day School, please contact admission@craneschool.org or call 805-969-7732 x127.

The Night Sky of Singapore
Peter Glynn

We are in our tenth year of implementing the Singapore Math program in grades K-6. Both our students and teachers have benefited from the visual modeling methods and “deep dives” into core concepts and problem solving skills the Singapore Math program emphasizes. 

How did the tiny, fairly new country of Singapore get on the map with such a superior math program?...

We are in our tenth year of implementing the Singapore Math program in grades K-6. Both our students and teachers have benefited from the visual modeling methods and “deep dives” into core concepts and problem solving skills the Singapore Math program emphasizes. 

How did the tiny, fairly new country of Singapore get on the map with such a superior math program? I believe much has to do with the strong emphasis on education that has been integral to the economic success of Singapore. When it started as an independent country in 1965, Singapore’s prospects did not look good. Tiny and underdeveloped, it had no natural resources and a population of relatively recent immigrants with little shared history. 

The founding father of the country, Lee Kuan Yee, realized that it would require the intellectual capacity of their citizens to transform the nation. The Singapore Ministry of Education decided that a strong mathematics curriculum was critical to developing a highly educated, technically sophisticated workforce. Singapore spends more per capita on education than most first-world countries. 

Singapore today is a vibrant, economic power in South Asia. Singapore is not a perfect society; it is an authoritarian government with many restrictions. However, one has to marvel at how a country with no natural resources developed into a major economic power. And, we at Crane are benefiting from the highly focused and thoughtful process the Singapore Ministry of Education invested in developing a superior mathematics curriculum. 

Peter Glynn
Math Specialist

Most Recent Posts

Outdoor Learning Space

Crane School’s 11-acre campus is most definitely a highlight for those who visit. The balance of nature and buildings, and the natural flow as one moves through campus is welcoming and enchanting. Students, parents, and Staffulty (staff and faculty) can all agree that the campus is thoughtfully designed and carefully maintained. When asking Staffulty about their favorite spot on campus, the vast majority name an outdoor space, but as there are so many to choose from, they don’t all share the same favorite. They can all pinpoint just what it is that makes it their favorite:

“Walking through Crane’s amazing garden is the best way to start my day. It’s a beautiful reminder to take in the beauty that’s all around us.

“Our fields are really magical spaces...”

Choice Voice Image

Choice at Crane School is seen at each grade level in varying forms and amounts. It could be Choice Time at the end of the day in kindergarten, Choice Boards in first grade for extra learning opportunities, Passion Projects in fourth grade, the seventh grade mentor project (QED), or an eighth grader’s public speaking topic. No matter what age, choice brings excitement. Choice is like the shiny, colorful bait that lures the fish and reels it in toward the ultimate goal - in this case, learning. When it comes to our Crane motto of rigor and joy, choice is the joy piece that makes deep, meaningful learning so much fun and memorable...

2020-09-15-FonLGoal

The beginning of the school year brings excitement, stirs up nerves, and offers a fresh start. There is anticipation of the new possibilities and seeing familiar faces again. Some nerves in the form of butterflies appear as students wonder about the unknowns. It is certainly a new beginning for all, which can be recognized by a pristine white school planner, the colorful stylus in a school supplies case, or a new name tag to make a student’s learning space their own...

Reinhart Koselleck

Of the many odd things that I studied in graduate school, none was more engaging to me than the intersections between the history of medicine and the history of political thought. At the time I thought this was interesting on its own merits. I could never have guessed that in 2020, the politics of medicine would become critically relevant. I should like to reflect one those intersections and to explain how they inform my instruction of students in United States history...